FROM THIS EPISODE

In 2008, voters approved a route from LA to San Francisco but today, the High-Speed Rail Authority said costs have more than doubled and that completion will be delayed by 13 years. It's never been clear where all the money would come from or why the first leg will go from Chowchilla to Bakersfield. In any case, the Authority's under the gun to start building now or lose $2.2 billion in federal start-up funding. We get the latest. Also, local pastors divest money from big banks. On Reporter's Notebook, is Frank McCourt about to sell the Dodgers? On our rebroadcast of today's To the Point, do America's movers and shakers live in a bubble?

Banner image: Illustration of a typical Anaheim grade crossing along with high-speed rail. Illustration courtesy of the California High Speed Rail Authority.

The ultimate cost of California's high-speed rail system has doubled from $43 billion to almost $100 billion, and the completion date has now been moved from 2020 to 2033. Those announcements came today from the High-Speed Rail Authority, which is taking its latest proposal to the state legislature under deadline pressure.

Today, a group of local church leaders called LA Voice told Wells Fargo and Bank of America they were divesting their money. At Third and Hope Street outside B of A, KCRW's Saul Gonzalez spoke with former Obama White House aide Van Jones (at right), now president and co-founder of an activist group called Rebuild the Dream. We hear more from the Reverend Doctor Ryan Bell, senior pastor at the Hollywood Adventist Church and member of the Pico National Clergy Leadership Council.

Segment image: Van Jones was one the speakers at today's rally involving activists and members of the clergy. Photo by Saul Gonzalez

Washington, DC has now replaced California's Silicon Valley as the wealthiest metropolitan area in the United States. Is that putting policymakers, politicians and journalistic pundits out of touch with the problems of ordinary Americans? Is that why they've been so slow to address the housing crisis and unemployment?